The Trend: The comic-book movie adaptation. Although Richard Donner's Superman in 1978 and Tim Burton's Batman in 1989 were critically and commercially successful superhero movies (with the latter spawning three sequels of ever-declining quality), it wasn't until the turn of the century that the genre really began to gain traction. Although many cite 1998's Blade as the beginning of the superhero boom, that was a stylized and violent R-rated movie based on a more obscure character. The near $300m gross of Bryan Singer's X-Men proved that there was a market for blockbuster adaptations of comic book heroes, and Hollywood's latest obsession was born. Following the critical and commercial success of X-Men, the studios scrambled to adapt any comic book property they could get their hands on. Just five years later we had an X-Men sequel, two Blade sequels, two Spider-Man movies, Daredevil, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Hulk, Catwoman, Hellboy, The Punisher, The Fantastic Four, Elektra and Batman Begins. 14 years after the release of X-Men the superhero bubble shows no signs of bursting with Days of Future Past, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 all set to do big business over the summer. Since X-Men hit theaters we have seen Hugh Jackman play Wolverine seven times, three actors play The Incredible Hulk, Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, reboots of The Punisher, Spider-Man and Superman with new iterations of Batman and The Fantastic Four on the way, while Marvel Studios have changed franchise filmmaking forever with their shared cinematic universe and the $1.5bn success of The Avengers. 15 years ago a superhero movie would be one of the toughest projects to get made in Hollywood, now thanks to the trail blazed by Bryan Singer's X-Men they are almost ubiquitous at the multiplex.
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